Thursday, January 21, 2010

Will You Play Star Trek Online?

I'm not in the Beta for Star Trek Online. The shenanigans to get a beta key seemed like more work than I was willing to put in. But I've been watching a lot of the news and reactions to the game.

I'm really on the fence about this game. The ship combat looks kind of neat, but I'm not sure about the rest of the game.

I've been watching the EJ thread on Star Trek (amusingly entitled "Elitist Kirks"), and one thing that strikes me is that the game seems to get very complicated very fast. And I'm not sure I'm up for a very complicated MMO.

I'm also not sure about the IP. I like Star Trek, but it's always struck me as something I watch. To see a story unfold. I never really thought of it as something active, something you play. I think I've only ever played one Star Trek game (Star Trek:25th Anniversary on the NES, if I recall correctly). I don't actually remember too much about it, but Star Trek has always been firmly in the "not-game" category in my mind.

11 comments:

I am actually of the opposite opinion as above. I've been playing the beta, and I've been enjoying it so far. The way it's structured makes it ideal for just logging in for a bit whenever you want, since quests and events are generally pretty short yet enjoyable, and any one that requires a party will put you in one automatically when you enter that region.

The ship combat reminds me a lot of Starfleet Command (though a lot simpler), which is a game I really enjoyed so I'm also really liking it in STO. Ground combat is fairly standard, but it's nice that you get AI party members if you're not already in a group.

I'm sure that it gets complicated later, but that's something I'll be worried about later. For now, it's a pretty enjoyable game.

I'm likely going to play it because an old friend is interested in playing it. I haven't gotten to hang out with him in a while, so shooting romulans together sounds like fun.

I have not tried the beta. However, the ship combat seems pretty stellar. I'm also predicting that, while the ground combat is kinda meh, a casual player will be able to do a fair amount of their progression only in space.

Added note - Can you link the EJ thread you mentioned? My google and EJ-search fu has failed me.

Yeah, I got into the beta, both closed and open. My take? It's slow slow slow SLOW!!! Really, this game is literally the slowest moving game I've ever played. Navigation is one of the single most complex things I've seen, and the game needs a major overhaul in terms of complexity. The ship to ship battles take a while to get (go in with the mindset of a naval vessel instead of airplane style combat and you'll get the hang of it quickly enough) but ground combat is painfully inept. And believe me, there is a lot of ground combat. Battles are long, complex, and generally boring on both land and in space.

Overall I'd say this isn't a BAD game... but it's definately not a game I plan to buy.